Coriolanus - a historical figure of Ancient Rome who lived four centuries before Julius Caesar, has a play on his life written by the Bard. Despite it being one of his lesser-known works, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading it. In a nutshell, Shakespeare’s Coriolanus is a killing machine, who after winning many a … Continue reading Coriolanus
Cleopatra was not the exotic, scheming, and lustful queen of legend who ensnared Rome’s greatest men. Her affairs with Pompey, Caesar, and Antony were historic realities, but these were driven by realpolitik. As Adrian Goldsworthy writes: Cleopatra was not another Helen of Troy, a mythical figure about whom the most important thing was her beauty. … Continue reading Antony and Cleopatra
Julius Caesar (1970): I’ve been on a Roman history reading project for a month. This 1970 star-studded movie was a faithful adaptation of the play. But, the whole Roman setting and the costumes made it a bit too ‘period’ for my taste. Antony and Cleopatra: As in Julius Caesar, Charlton Heston also essays the role … Continue reading What I Watched – August 2025
I tried to dig out a few enduring cultural legacies of Caesar... C-Section: Caesar’s mother didn’t die giving birth to him. So the belief that he was born by a cesarean surgery has been widely discredited. Despite this, the association gave his name to the procedure. The Ides of March: referred to the 15th day … Continue reading The Enduring Legacies of Caesar
Thudaram: was too dark for me. Honour killing isn’t a commonly explored theme in Malayalam cinema. The wait for Mohanlal’s magic continues. Shobana, on the other hand was totally wasted in the movie. Also check out this well-argued piece on Middle-Aged Women In Malayalam Cinema Thug Life: The duo that made the greatest gangster movie … Continue reading What I Watched – July 2025
I re-read Hamlet after 15 years. Now, with some additional accumulated wisdom, I was able to see glimpses of why this is considered to be Shakespeare’s magnum opus. When Achilles slaughters Hector, he is consumed by vengeance and glory. Divine punishment or suffering in the afterlife had little meaning for him. The Homeric Greek heroes … Continue reading Hamlet
Sound of Music: I realized that visiting Salzburg without watching the ‘Sound of Music’ would be unthinkable. So here I was, in my 41st year, watching something that should have been done in the first decade of my life. The shocking realization was that most of the songs in the movie were the ones that … Continue reading What I Watched – June 2025
Ikiru: This 1952 Kurosawa movie is probably one of the best movies to be made on bureaucracy. A paper pusher, on receiving a cancer diagnosis, decides that getting a pending application for a children's park cleared, would be the greatest achievement of his life. And his tireless efforts moving from department to department form the … Continue reading What I Watched – May 2025
You need money to run a country. And if you’re managed by Communist Russia, it’s just a matter of time before the you go bust. In the 80s, East Germany (or the German Democratic Republic (GDR)) faced this predicament and resorted to all possible ways to manage this crisis. Two fascinating exports were arms and … Continue reading ‘Comrades and Cash’
“Two unlikely foes end up in love, and all ends well, after the hero, who is treacherously made to assume that his fiancée is unfaithful, repents when the culprits are caught.” This can be a one-line summary of Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. I could easily think of so many Bollywood movies around this plot. … Continue reading Much Ado About Nothing
